If we should expect one thing from our politicians, it is that they not encourage violence or harassment of fellow citizens.

Politicians are supposed to be “leaders.” As such, we should be able to expect a higher degree of decorum from them.

Unfortunately, with some politicians, we cannot expect even the most basic level of decorum or civility. We’ve seen examples of this recently.

After White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was asked to leave the Red Hen restaurant in Virginia because of her connection to President Donald Trump, a firestorm began. The owner of the restaurant stood by her decision to ask Sanders to leave the restaurant on grounds that Sanders works for an “inhumane” administration.

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, then said at a political rally: “If you see anybody from [Trump’s] cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them! And you tell them that they are not welcome, anymore, anywhere.”

Although Waters maintains she was not encouraging violence, her comment at the very least encouraged people to openly harass Trump cabinet members when those cabinet members are out in public and not at work.

Trump responded to Waters on Twitter saying she “called for harm to supporters” and referring to Waters as “an extraordinarily low IQ person.”

But President Trump’s hands are far from clean on the issue of encouraging harm to others. Trump, the most powerful man in the world, openly mused about the idea of violence against protesters at his rallies during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump said of a protester at a Las Vegas rally: “I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks.” Trump went on to say to loud applause, “I’d like to punch him in the face."

House Financial Services Committee ranking member Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., asks a question of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, during a hearing on June 27, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington.(Photo11: Jacquelyn Martin, AP)

Trump told another crowd of supporters in Iowa: "So I got a little notice in case you see. The security guys, we have wonderful security guys. They said, ‘Mr. Trump, there may be somebody with tomatoes in the audience.’ So if you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. Just knock the hell ... I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. I promise."

At a rally in North Carolina, a Trump supporter sucker punched a protester in the face. The man was charged with assault, and Trump suggested on "Meet the Press" that he may pay the sucker puncher’s legal fees.

In Brandenburg v. Ohio, the United States Supreme Court ruled that under the First Amendment, a person can be liable for incitement to violence only when speech is “directed at inciting or producing imminent lawless action” and “likely to incident or produce such action.”

While it is unlikely either Waters or Trump violated the law based on what they said, it is disturbing when any politician encourages violence or harassment. It puts America on a dangerous path, and it should be condemned.

The free and open exchange of ideas is one of the hallmarks of a democratic society. The encouragement of violence or harassment against others with whom we disagree is antithetical to freedom.

Many of us likely have friends with whom we disagree politically. But would you ever throw them away as friends because of that disagreement? I wouldn’t.

I have learned a lot from my friends of all political stripes. Sometimes it’s challenging conventional wisdom or giving me another way to see an issue that I hadn’t thought of before. It’s good for all of us to get out of our “bubbles” and experience the world and interact with many different people. I know I don’t have all of the answers.

So, have conversations with people you disagree with. Try to convince them otherwise. Or, don’t talk politics with them at all.

But one thing we should all be able to agree on is that it is entirely inappropriate for politicians to encourage violence or harassment against our fellow citizens, even those with whom we vehemently disagree. To turn a blind eye to that sort of rhetoric is to acquiesce or condone it.